The amount of gas Australia exported in the past five years could have met domestic needs for two decades
A new report claims that in the past handful of years, Australia has exported enough gas to supply domestic needs for two decades - even as local prices surge to record highs and warnings of shortages persist.
The Australia Institute's analysis found that the country's low-cost gas was largely being exported, while the more difficult-to-access, environmentally-damaging, high-cost gas was left for domestic use.
In the past five years, the report found, the federal government had permitted the export of the equivalent of 22 years of Australia's total gas demand.
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A new report has revealed that Australia exported 22 years' worth of gas in the past five years. Glenn Campbell
It also claimed the gas industry used more gas to process gas for export than Australians used for power plants, manufacturing, or households.
In 2023-2024, 83 per cent of all natural gas extracted in Australia went to the export industry.
The report also found that Australians pay between four and seven times more for gas than other large, gas-producing nations, including the US, Russia, Qatar, and Canada.
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Australians pay up to seven times more for gas than citizens of other producing nations. Supplied
Former deputy chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, retired Air Vice Marshall John Backburn, said the wholesale exportation of gas could constitute a "deeply concerning" security issue.
"Australia does not have a National Security Strategy, does not have a National Risk Assessment, and the last time we had a National Energy Security Assessment was 2011," Backburn said.
"How can rational decisions regarding the management of our energy resources possibly be made?
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Energy prices are continually high. Getty
"Allowing the depletion of Australia's gas reserves by decades of potential supply to feed exports, while Australians apparently face shortages, amounts to negligently undermining Australia's energy security."
Weld Australia chief executive Geoff Crittenden said Australia was at a "fork in the road" and faced losing its manufacturing base.
"The excessive gas price is not only a huge burden on industry, but its impact on the price of consumer goods like water heaters and the retail electricity price adds a substantial additional impost of Australian families," he said.
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